The state Department of Transportation now expects a road improvement project at Shower/Pohaku Drive and Highway 130 in Puna to resume in late June after a storm water discharge permit expired.
The state Department of Transportation now expects a road improvement project at Shower/Pohaku Drive and Highway 130 in Puna to resume in late June after a storm water discharge permit expired.
Transportation officials announced May 8 that the project stalled because of the permit issue, and would resume early next month.
That’s been pushed back to June 23 to allow for a 30-day public comment period for the new permit application, department spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige said in an email. A legal notice was expected to be published today.
According to the department, a five-year national pollutant discharge elimination system permit was obtained in 2012 for the Keaau-Pahoa shoulder lane project, which also included installing a traffic signal at Shower Drive, called Pohaku Drive on the mauka side of the highway.
The project was later split into two phases to allow for land acquisition. The shoulder conversion project ended in September 2015.
“When HDOT went out to bid for Phase 2, it was intended that the contractor be responsible for the renewal of the permit; however, the permit renewal required direct HDOT involvement,” Kunishige said. “HDOT then took the lead on the permit and submitted a renewal request (with the state Department of Health). When the renewal request was submitted, HDOT found that a new permit application was required.”
The permit expired April 17.
The delay could push completion of the $3.7 million project to mid to late November instead of August.
The contractor is Jas. W. Glover LTD.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.